Climbed with Teri. Followed the ridge from Pyramid Pass. Stayed left at obstacles and kept it around 3rd class. Continued the traverse south to Ball Lakes then back to the TH via Pyramid Lake trail. Picked berries along the way. One family camped at Pyramid Lake and other than that, had it to ourselves. Was supposed to have rained but that held off till we closed the door on the way out :)

Took the trail to upper Ball Lake and headed north along the ridge to Pyramid Peak. The views down into Long Canyon and the peaks to the west and south are astounding. Every time I come to the Selkirks, I'm continually impressed. They are not the highest mountains out there, but the vertical rises are impressive and they may offer the best example of a glacial-formed landscape in Idaho.

Once at the peak I went up the SE ridge in short time. Then I dropped off the steep north face just to see what was down there and then with some tricky climbing cut over to the NE ridge for the full descent.

There was a severe hail storm the night before followed by heavy rain. This caused hail to flow and accumulate in catchment areas only to be covered by rain deposited litter and duff that insolated the hail through the heat of the day. So much of the route I could find crunchy ice under my feet.

We hiked the Pyramid Pass/Long Mountain trail until we were at 6400 feet and due west of the notch at the base of the ridge. Went cross-country to the notch and then hiked/scrambled to the summit. Time from car to summit: 1h50m.

Since the day was young, instead of going down the NE ridge as originally intended, we went back to the notch and continued S along the ridge, going over 2 lesser peaks to Ball Lakes. Had an early lunch, waded and napped at the lakes. Back to the car 5.5 hrs from start.

I would say the ridge is mostly 2nd class with some very short 3rd class. However, there are numerous granite outcrops that offer some bouldering diversions with little exposure and of which we took advantage. Rock is excellent .

Martin and I scrambled up this peak and had a great time in perfect weather. We did some fun scrambling up to the summit of the peak above Ball Lake on the first day. The ridgeline over to Pyramid Peak has really nice views both directions. We met 2 other climbers who scrambled up the Northeast Ridge.

We scrambled this route on a peak I've wanted to bag since last year. The views were excellent in this pristine, undeveloped section of Northern Idaho. On day 1, we did some 4th class scrambling above Ball Lake. On Sunday, we went the three miles over the ridgeline over 2 smaller mountains to reach Pyramid Peak. The granite was fun to scramble on. We purposely did some 5th class sections for fun. The bouldering here is nice. Got a little off route on the decent, do not try to bushwack in this area!

I attempted a winter ascent of the Northeast Ridge in December of 2002, but we were turned back by deep snow on the forest service road. Matt and I climbed the 55 degree north face of nearby Mount Reynolds instead. We reached 6,500 feet in full-on winter conditions, but had to turn back due to darkness. I experienced for the first time what it was like to posthole above my head!!! Completely disappeared!